The Twilight Twenty-Five: Round Nine
by LyricalKris
Summary: The Twilight Twenty-Five. The challenge is to write twenty-five mini stories based on prompts and a central character. This is going to be fun.
1. Prompt 15

**A/N: It's that time again. The Twilight 25. This year's challenge is to write to a central character with each chapter being a separate drabble, flash fic, or one-shot. The central character I chose was Aro, but I can tell you right now that not all of my chapters will be from his PoV. The first one isn't.**

**I'm going to try to keep them at flash fics, but who knows. I've always been a wordy bastard. Let's see how it goes!**

**The Twilight Twenty-Five**

**thetwilight25 dot com**

**Prompt: 15 - Insidious**

**Main Character: Bella**

**Rating: M**

**Word Count: 500**

* * *

"You can't keep me away from this case."

"You're compromised, Agent Swan."

Special Agent Isabella Swan, FBI, bit her lip. Compromised. Sure. She was out of her mind with fear, worry, and anger. Oh, God she was angry. If Aro Scarpinato was there in front of her, she would rip him apart with her bare hands.

But then, the fact he was still free to scheme was her fault. Hadn't Aro been her target and therefore her responsibility for years? Five years ago, she'd stumbled onto a link between Aro and the twelve-year-old twins she was trying to help find. Aro had slowly become her obsession. No one knew the man as she did. Her insight had saved lives.

So how had she missed the most obvious target?

It was inevitable that Aro, in turn, had become obsessed with her. Besides being on his tail, she was what Aro called a prize. Bella didn't like to think about the things that happened to Aro's prizes. He wanted to conquer her as badly as she wanted him, and they stood on opposite sides of a divide, each unable to reach the other.

But Edward. The love of her life, her brilliant, innocent boyfriend, Edward wasn't similarly protected, obviously.

She blew breath out of her nose, trying to calm herself. "You know I'm your best chance," she said to her boss, Special Agent In Charge Robert Banner, through gritted teeth. "I'm his best chance. Don't ask me to sit this one out."

"I'm not asking. It's an order. You know I have no choice but to put you on leave. Protected leave, seeing as there's no way he won't come after you."

"No." Bella shuddered. Though they'd only played the video once, every second was seared into her memory. She could recall perfectly the look on Edward's face, all fury and fear. She remembered the way he struggled against his bonds, his fists clenched as Aro ran a hand through his hair.

When the video had played, she'd screamed, "Get away from him," in perfect unison with Edward's gag-muffled "Get your fucking hands off me." Aro had smiled and put a finger to his lips, shushing him.

That smile. It was all the more sickening because it perfectly masked his insidious nature. He'd petted Edward's hair and stroked his cheek, speaking to the camera.

"Such a shame," he'd said, his voice gentle. "Such a shame you didn't join me when I asked, but no matter." His lips had turned up, and he'd kissed the top of Edward's head. "He is such a prize in and of himself. A good match for you."

Bella swallowed hard, coming back to the present. "He won't come after me. Not now. He'll wait for me to find a way to beg him. Me for Edward. He'll make me come to him."

Perhaps it was better Banner wanted to put her on leave. Easier to get away.

One thing Bella knew, Aro had picked his last battle.

* * *

**A/N: Many thanks to barburella, songster, and jessypt for their kind attention.**


	2. Prompt 23

**A/N: Just a reminder, all of these are single serving stories. A few of you have asked if I plan to continue the last one. Well, you never know. Both Dig and Snapshots originated from The Twilight Twenty-Five Round 8.**

**The Twilight Twenty-Five**

**thetwilight25 dot com**

**Prompt: 23 - Tryst**

**Main Character: Aro**

**Rating: M**

**Word Count: 500**

**A/N: Wtf is this. I can't even. Uh. Slight Aro/Carlisle *ducks***

* * *

Aro's life as a Greek prince was orderly. He took lessons in the subjects and skills he would need to be a king. He'd been betrothed at babyhood to a princess named Sulpicia. He was taught to be genteel, and he was taught how to fight.

Life was good.

As he was expected to lead his father's armies in battle some day, at seventeen, Aro was too busy serving in the military to marry, so it was his younger sister Didyme who wed first.

It was there, at her wedding, that Aro met him. In the grand scheme of things, he was no more than a tryst, but from first sight, Aro knew-this man was important somehow.

He was an outsider. It was obvious. His skin was several shades paler, and his hair. His hair was the color of spun gold. He wasn't Greek, but then, many of the guests weren't.

His eyes were the color of the ocean when it was calm. The blond looked up, catching Aro's stare. Emboldened, Aro held his gaze. The man ducked, but Aro could see his smile from across the room.

When they broke for the feast, Aro sought him out.

His name was Carlisle. The word felt strange and delicious on his tongue. When they stole out to the beach to share kisses, Aro found he tasted just as good.

He was, like Aro, a prince who would someday be a king.

On the second day of the wedding festivities, Aro lured Carlisle out for a sword fight, looking to impress him. Instead, he ended up the one on his ass, the blond man proving his sword was as well practiced as his educated tongue. And since they were already covered in sweat, neither thought much of it.

In the quiet between heated moments, Aro lay in Carlisle's arms and whispered his plans and ambitions. His kingdom, he told Carlisle, would be much grander than anything his father had dared to imagine.

It took him minutes to realize Carlisle was quiet. When prodded, he would only say, "It occurs to me that we are so similar and yet so very different."

The boys parted and grew to men. They married the princesses they were destined to and had strong sons and pretty daughters. Their kingdoms flourished, though for different reasons.

They met again on the eve of the battle, and stared at each other with sadness and righteousness in their eyes.

"That day, when you told me of your plans for your kingdom, I couldn't tell you mine," Carlisle said. "I couldn't tell you because my plan was simple-to live peaceably." He took a breath, his normally soft eyes hardening. "And to defeat anyone who threatened my people's peace and prosperity."

Aro studied the other man, seeing with certainty that he couldn't have what he wanted without a fight. Tomorrow they would stand on the battlefield with their sons at their side. He nodded at Carlisle, his throat tight.

"So be it."

* * *

**A/N: So that was... that. Thanks to barburella and jessypt!**


	3. Prompt 1

**The Twilight Twenty-Five**

**thetwilight25 dot com**

**Prompt: 1 - Ancient**

**Main Character: Aro, E/B**

**Rating: M**

**Word Count: 500**

* * *

The forest that surrounded the village was ancient, the woods so thick, it seemed to swallow the light of the sun. The townspeople told their little ones stories of the monsters to keep them from wandering past the treeline into the darkness.

They were more astute than they would know, Aro mused. There were indeed creatures as old as the trees, and they were hungry.

Edward didn't believe the stories. Such an arrogant child. It would be his downfall-Aro knew that. He was, in fact, counting on it.

The deal itself was simple enough to arrange. The boy had a weakness: a lovely maiden named Bella whose father wouldn't consent to their marriage. It was a matter of whispering in the boy's ear. Aro had the power to marry them before the gods, and a charm that would guarantee their marriage bed would be quickly fruitful. Both claims were true.

He'd told young Edward to take his beloved into the woods and gave him directions to a clearing, an enchanted place that possessed a beauty the likes of which most had never seen.

That much was also true.

"It's an idyllic place," Aro had said. "But you must brave the forests where even the fiercest of your warriors are afraid to travel."

The boy had stood up tall. "I've not believed in monsters since I was a babe."

Aro watched from his looking glass as Edward, torch in one hand, led his Bella through the dense foliage. Aro was impressed. She was afraid, but she didn't cower. She didn't whimper. She gripped her beloved's hand but didn't cling to him.

"I'll keep you safe," Edward murmured against her ear, and Aro laughed.

"Oh, child," he said, shaking his head. "How little you know."

He met the couple in the clearing under the guise of the wizened holy man.

It went as he promised. He bound them in the eyes of the gods and sent them to consummate their union on a lush bed of moss. In his kindness, he gave them some hours to bask in afterglow before he dispatched his minions.

There was a scuffle, and the lovers were separated. The furious boy was brought before him.

"I will kill you," Edward swore, fire in his eyes as he was made to kneel.

"You cannot."

It took some doing to convince the boy.

"What have you done with her?" he asked, broken now.

"She will come to no harm. Your child too will be marked by the fairy folk and well taken care of."

He raised his head. "My child?"

"The one you've started tonight. She was the price you've paid for the power you will someday wield."

Edward's eyes widened. "You've cursed us."

Aro gripped Edward by his hair, forcing his head back. His arm around the boy stilled his useless struggles, and he leaned down to the whisper in his ear. "Ancient monsters do exist. You will know, because you will serve me as one of them."

* * *

**A/N: Many thanks to songster and barburella.**


	4. Prompt 24

**The Twilight Twenty-Five**

**thetwilight25 dot com**

**Prompt: 24 - Waffle**

**Main Character: Aro, E/B**

**Rating: M**

**Word Count: 500**

**A/N: A happy one for Monday morning.**

* * *

Carlie Cullen was a beautiful girl. At six years old, there was a look of challenge in her expression that didn't belong on any child's face, but she was special. Of course. That's why Aro wanted her.

She was a super-genius, a prodigy. She was a perfect candidate for his academy, his school for gifted young people.

The problem was that, like many other parents with children who were smarter than they were, Edward and Bella Cullen were permissive. They tended to let Carlie make her own decisions, and they wouldn't consent to enroll her in his academy, all expenses paid, unless she agreed to it.

Carlie was looking at him now with the same expression of doubt and suspicion her father had fixed him with just half an hour before. It was annoying. They way Edward questioned him, it was as though he suspected Aro intended to abscond with his child to make her part of some super-soldier experiment.

But now that he'd gotten past the parents, he had to tackle Carlie. Things had been going swimmingly until the girl had proffered him a bite of the Eggo she'd been carrying around nibbling, and he'd tried to refuse politely. Then he tried to refuse more firmly.

The girl just couldn't get it through her head that Aro didn't want Eggos.

"Minds like yours need better nourishment," he said. "If you come to my school, you'll have a delicious, balanced breakfast and lunch every day. Soon you'll realize these are nasty." He made what he hoped was a silly face.

Carlie didn't laugh. She stared at him, aghast. "Eggos are a treat! They aren't good for you, but they're soooooooooooo good."

"Flambeed vanilla poached pears are a treat. This is processed garbage."

She eyed him, and then the look flickered across her face that was pure mischief. "Howza bout we make a deal?"

"What kind of deal?"

"You want me to go to your school, right?"

"We'd love to have you, Carlie. The things you could learn. It takes a special school to keep up with your level of intellect, and…"

He trailed off when she held out the unbitten end of her waffle to him, the smirk on her face knowing. Behind her, her mother hid a laugh. She was enjoying it.

"I bite the...waffle-" So wrong to call an Eggo a waffle. "-and you come to my school. Is that it?"

Carlie grinned at him and nodded. "Uh huh."

Sighing, his stomach already twisting in revulsion, Aro slowly dropped to one knee. Her eyes glowing, Carlie raised the Eggo to his lips. He took the tiniest bite.

"Nah uh. Mommy says you have to really give something a try before you can say you hate it. So _try_ it."

Grimacing-why oh why did _this _child's aptitude tests have to be so off the charts-Aro took a healthy bite. He chewed. His refined palate wept.

Carlie giggled. "Okay. I'll go. But I'm still gonna have Eggos for breakfast."

* * *

**A/N: Thanks much to songster and baburella. These are so much fun, aren't they?**Eggos for breakfast."


	5. Prompt 14

The Twilight Twenty-Five

thetwilight25 dot com

Prompt: 14 - Innocence

Main Character: Aro, E/B

Rating: M

Word Count: 500

Warning: Rape is mentioned in this chapter, though not graphically.

* * *

Aro was a mob boss, and he was well aware how many people equated that title with monster. Perhaps they were right, but his choices weren't made out of malice. He had an empire to run and many families who looked to him for protection. There was a greater good, and if the price of what he did was paid in blood, that was the way of the world. Kill or be killed.

Happiness and joy in his world were always tinged with the bittersweetness of the price he'd paid.

His children were the exception. Like all men were capable of atrocity, so were all men capable of divinity. Each of his babies had been conceived in love and had been born, like all humans, innocent.

Beautiful.

They were all like him now: blackmailers and assassins. He was proud. They were smart and skilled, but they were ruthless. There were times he mourned the loss of the innocent babies they'd been.

This baby…

He was not a child conceived in love. Through twisted circumstance and no fault of her own, the baby's mother, Bella, found herself trapped by men who wanted nothing more than to make her scream. The only way Aro could save her was to claim her for himself. They wouldn't touch her if she was his, but they still wanted her screams.

To save her, _only _to save her, he'd made her scream. This child was the result.

"Do you hate him?" he inquired of Bella, tone even.

After that night she had never let him see her tears, until now. Now she was laying in the bed, quiet tears flowing, her face turned away.

But at his question she faced him, her eyes lit with a protective fury. "He's mine. I love him, and I want your filthy hands off him."

Brave of her to say it to his face when she knew how powerful he was. And she was wrong. Regrettable circumstance or not, the child was his. Aro loved and protected what was his.

There was a queer stirring of sorrow in him as he kissed the child's forehead and put him back in his mother's waiting arms.

He walked out the door of her room and beckoned to the young man who'd been her guard these long months. Edward. The man had been acting very strange since he'd gained the trust of his charge. Aro had been in the game long enough to spot waning allegiance.

Edward stiffened when Aro beckoned him, but he came. He was afraid, Aro realized, that he was about to order him to kill her.

"This should be enough to get her away," he said instead and handed Edward a package. In it was what he would need to get Bella and the baby hidden, as well as access to enough money to provide for them.

There was enough for Edward to disappear with them. Aro wondered if the man would realize that.

This time, he didn't care.

* * *

**A/N: Many thanks to barburella and songster!**


	6. Prompt 25

**The Twilight Twenty-Five**

**thetwilight25 dot com**

**Prompt: 25 - Worthless**

**Main Character: Aro/Carlisle (I know. Hush.)**

**Rating: M**

**Word Count: 500**

* * *

Aro was a little obsessed with the boy next door.

They'd played together when they were little, when Carlisle and his family first moved to the area. But then the pastor had discovered Aro's parents were atheists and that had been the end of that. Beside the occasional wave, Aro more or less forgot about his one-time friend until he was sixteen or so.

By that time, he'd fallen in with a gang of fellow miscreants. Aro wouldn't say he agreed with what they did-picking on younger kids and generally causing trouble-but hey, they were his friends. He was loyal to his friends.

They were hassling a freshman when Carlisle happened upon there were four of them and only one of Carlisle-the freshman didn't count-he stood up to the other boys. He ended up with a black eye and Aro's grudging respect.

A year had passed, and Aro was...yeah. Obsessed. It was too easy to stare out his bedroom window into Carlisle's, watching him.

That was why, one night, near midnight, Aro happened to see Carlisle get into an argument with his father. The pastor was in his son's room, and they were both gesticulating wildly. Carlisle gave in first. His arms dropped and his head bowed in obvious shame. He didn't fight the whipping his father doled out after that.

The whole scene didn't sit well with Aro, and he was still watching when the other boy picked himself up and headed outside. He slipped into the woods behind their houses, and Aro, not quite understanding what he was doing, followed him.

He didn't have to go far to find him. Carlisle was leaning against a tree, his legs drawn up and his hands on his knees.

"Doesn't it hurt to sit like that?" Aro asked.

Carlisle started and looked up, hurriedly wiping at his tears.

It took some convincing, but finally, Carlisle told him that whenever his father punished him, he called him a worthless disappointment.

"Your father is an asshole and a moron," Aro said.

Carlisle looked dubious, and Aro smiled. "I see you, you know." In the dark, it was easy to be honest. "The way you are with your mother and your little brother. And what you did for that kid we were bothering." He traced the line of the other boy's jaw. He was very, very pretty. "Any dad should be proud to have you for a son."

And then, he kissed him.

Carlisle made a startled noise and stiffened, but after a moment, he melted into the kiss with a little groan.

As he kissed him, Aro had the strangest urge. It was like he wanted to consume Carlisle, to know him and understand him better than anyone else. Being able to touch him, talk to him, and kiss him had done nothing to sate his curiosity.

"I can prove it to you." Aro panted, breathless. "I can show you how special you are."

Then, he kissed him again.

* * *

**A/N: Many thanks to Cris for her beta assistance!**


	7. Prompt 2

**A/N: Happy Friday everyone! It's my first flex day, and I'm off to Disneyland. Weeeee. Sorry. I was excited. Had to share. Much heart!**

**The Twilight Twenty-Five**

**thetwilight25 dot com**

**Prompt: 2 - Animalistic**

**Main Character: Aro**

**Rating: M**

**Word Count: 500**

* * *

It started slowly.

The thing that separated man from beast was his ability to reason. It was also what Aro treasured most. His mind. His beautiful mind.

He rocked back and forth, clutching at his forehead as though he could stop the change. This wretched disease. He could feel it encroaching. He could feel the base, animalistic urge tugging at the corners of his consciousness. His eyes drifted toward the pistol on the desk, and he groaned.

"End it. You should end it," he mumbled to himself.

There was no cure. He was infected. He _would _become the mindless, savage beast. A dog, at least, could be trained, but what he would become? No, it was lower than an animal.

And how ironic. What a perversion of himself he would soon be.

Aro cringed when a scent hit him. He was locked in his house. He should be surrounded by the smells of nothing but his collection of old books-oh god, all the books he would never get to read-but there was something else in the air. The smell of humanity wafting in from the teeming streets outside, he realized.

"End it. For their sake if not your own."

But how could he give up what precious little time he had left with his thoughts? The acquisition and application of knowledge. He knew how the disease worked. It meant perhaps one more chapter, one more book. Perhaps there was a problem he could solve for a loved one. People were ruled by their emotions. Aro prided himself on being able to react rationally to any given situation.

This, though. This was testing him. A final test. The only test in his life he would fail.

He took up the gun. His hands trembled. "It's the only logical thing," he said through gritted teeth.

His stomach churned, yearned, called to be filled with…

Aro shook his head hard and pressed the gun against his temple. He braced himself.

Dropped it.

His hands scrambled over the desk. He picked up one book, then another, then another.

Of course he couldn't concentrate. Was it because the disease was clouding his thoughts, already stealing his very ability to think? Or was it simple fear?

He shook his head again, trying to clear it.

No. The disease was taking him. His mouth was dry. Itching.

He'd often thought he could tolerate any physical malady if only his mind was left intact. He didn't need anything-no relationship, no other goal than the persistent addition to the capacity of his mind.

The want was filling him...The need… God, he needed it.

Thought was slipping away, a violent, snarling animal was rising.

Need.

Scent.

His muscles coiled. He was beginning to forget why he was clutching the chair. He _needed _it. He _wanted _it. He could smell it.

The hunger won. He was up and out of his chair with only one thought. Not a thought so much as a sense. An animal instinct.

He wanted...

_Brains_!

* * *

**A/N: Ahhhh zombie!Aro**

**This is largely un-beta'ed because I'm impatient. Thanks to baburella for reading.**

Have a good weekend!


	8. Prompt 13

**The Twilight Twenty-Five**

**thetwilight25 dot com**

**Prompt: 13 - Hunger**

**Main Character: Aro**

**Rating: M**

**Word Count: 500**

* * *

In the 1700's, priesthood was a good calling for a second son.

One son to serve the crown, another to serve God, and the last to do as he pleased. They also had a daughter to trade in exchange for a secure alliance with another powerful family. Aro's parents were congratulated on their success. They didn't particularly care what their boys wanted. It worked out fine in his elder brother's case, but why wouldn't it? He would inherit their father's lands, his title, while Aro was forced into the modest, self-sacrificing life as a priest.

For years, Aro fumed. Marcus was as biddable as their sister. He hadn't the lust and talent for power. It was something one had to be hungry for in order to wield correctly. The things he could have done with what his brother had…

It took him too long to discover the power he had taken for granted. On a whim, he planted a suggestion in the ear of one of the boys sent to serve the church. He discovered how easy it was to have those boys on their knees for him instead of their lord.

From there, when the people came to him for counseling or absolution, he began to see how far he could push them.

They held their God in highest esteem, yet He chose not to speak himself. Instead, they listened to him, to Aro. He was the voice of their God, and they would do whatever he asked.

A plan began to formulate in Aro's head.

His elder brother was meek, but, ever the dutiful son, he was gaining rank in the military. He had married the daughter of a powerful political figure. Aro began to whisper in Marcus's ear, guiding him to make the right decisions. Damn fool. Left to his own devices, he would spend his time at home with his wife and his growing brood of brats.

There was work to be done.

He maneuvered Marcus into the King's court. With a few well placed words, he had directed the queen's sister to his younger brother Caius's printing press. She was of a romantic mind. Aro need only lay the tinder, and the two sparked on their own. Between both his brothers, he was that much closer to the King and Queen.

As for himself, well, he had plenty of work to do on his own. The church had a hierarchy, and he set about climbing it. He became the pinnacle of virtue itself. Not a day went by that he wasn't out among the people, doing good deeds and absolving them of their sins. Once upon a time, Aro had lamented his considerable charm would be wasted on the church. Not so. He gained popularity and esteem steadily.

How funny, Aro mused one night, alone in his bed. As a young lad, he never would have guessed his hunger for power could be sated from the priesthood.

Then again, was hunger ever really satisfied?

* * *

**A/N: Where was this going? Anyway. Songster and barburella ftw. How you guys doing out there?**


	9. Prompt 22

**The Twilight Twenty-Five**

**thetwilight25 dot com**

**Prompt: 22 - Treasure**

**Main Character: Edward, Aro**

**Rating: M**

**Word Count: 500**

**Warning: Potential triggers for talk of self harm and suicide.**

* * *

"She was suffering. They were all suffering, and I saved them."

Conventional wisdom should have told Edward to keep his eyes on the deranged serial killer, but he couldn't look up. He couldn't look away from his sister.

Oh, Alice. When she disappeared three days before, he'd known with horrible certainty who had her. The papers called him the Anaheim Angel Killer-the Anaheim Angels of Los Angeles weren't pleased. He killed young women-didn't they all-and left them to be found, adorned by gorgeous, intricate halos, their white-draped bodies carved with Enochian symbols.

It was widely thought the serial killer knew his victims. On the surveillance video, Alice was about to get into her car when she turned around as though called. She smiled and walked out of frame.

Edward had followed every clue available, independent of the FBI. He'd found the killer first. Aro Scarpinato. A friend of their father's.

"Of course you don't see. They never do." Aro sounded bitter.

He knelt near Edward and reached out to take Alice's hand. Edward recoiled, pulling his sister's limp body closer to him. "Don't you fucking touch her."

Aro's eyes flashed dangerously, but Alice's arm had fallen palm up. He pointed to her exposed wrist. "Don't you see what she's suffered? People like you, who are supposed to love her most, never understand. But I do. Believe me, I do. I saved her. I saved all of them. I set them free."

Alice's wrist bore scars from a suicide attempt when she was twenty. It wasn't the first time. Alice had been trying to die since she was sixteen-years-old. Of course Edward knew that. Their whole family had suffered along with her. He couldn't understand why she'd done it when they loved her. They loved her so much, and didn't that mean anything?

But she'd been fighting hard to get better.

Edward breathed in and out through his nose. He stroked his thumb across Alice's cold cheek. He drew his hand down and picked up her hand by the wrist. "There's blood under her nails," he said through gritted teeth. "She fought you."

Aro had the gall to smile. "Sometimes, they don't know what they need. They don't understand I'm trying to help them." His eyes strayed to Alice's form, full of tenderness. "My treasures."

"She wanted to live. She _fought_ for it."

Again Aro's features twisted. "You don't know anything about people like us." He tilted his head. "Your girlfriend. She understood your sister. That's how you met her, isn't it?"

Edward's heart began to pound out of control.

"I could help her too, you know."

Edward had begun to inch his fingers down his calf to where he'd hidden another knife. "I'm going to kill you." He was surprised by how calm his voice was.

Aro only smiled wider.

With a final, gentle caress to her cheek and a silent promise for justice, Edward lowered Alice's body to the floor. Getting a good grip on the knife, he lunged.

* * *

**A/N: *whistles* Many thanks to Barburella and songster.**

**FYI, for those of us who don't watch Supernatural, Enochian is a supposed angelic language created by John Dee and Edward Kelley in the sixteenth century.**


	10. Prompt 6

**The Twilight Twenty-Five**

**thetwilight25 dot com**

**Prompt: 6 - Crush**

**Main Character: Bella, Aro**

**Rating: M**

**Word Count: 500**

* * *

"Mr. Scarpinato? There's a Ms. Swan to see you."

Aro glanced at the clock and rolled his eyes as he hit the intercom. "I think you'll find, most charming Bianca, I've got a meeting at ten."

It was so hard to find good help these days.

"She is your ten o'clock." Bianca sounded bored. "Isabella Swan with Cullen Enterprises."

Aro's cheek twitched. "Carlisle Cullen, you insufferable asshole," he muttered to himself.

Sending a lackey to meet with him rather than coming himself was a slap in the face. It only strengthened Aro's resolve. He was going to crush Cullen Enterprises. He had thought to offer them an olive branch. Together they could take over the world… in a business sense, of course. Now, he was set on obliterating them. The whole family would be beggars on the street by the time he was through.

Starting with this Ms. Swan.

"Send her in."

He turned to his computer, fully intent on making her wait, but rather than standing quietly like most people would, she strode to his desk, putting her hand in front of him, demanding attention. "Mr. Scarpinato, what a pleasure to finally meet you."

Isabella was just a little girl. Perhaps as young as Carlisle's youngest child, Edward. She was dressed professionally enough; though he thought having her hair hanging down loose was a mistake. She could stand to add a few years, however artificially.

Just what did Carlisle think he was playing at, handing him insult after insult?

"Ms. Swan." Aro took her hand. To the girl's credit, her handshake was firm. "I'll admit I wasn't expecting you. In fact, I can't say I've ever heard your name at all, let alone in relation to Cullen Enterprises."

Her smile was confident. "Well, sir, that leaves you at quite a disadvantage, because I know everything about you." She crossed her legs as she sat back in her chair, looking cool and comfortable as she engaged him. "Aro Scarpinato, co-founder of Volturi Inc., along with your brother Caius and brother-in-law Marcus. Once a fledgling, nothing of a company, you single-handedly destroyed the so-called Romanian Empire, the trio of companies owned by Vladimir and Stefan Dacia."

Aro's lip twitched. "Ancient history."

"I suppose so, if you're not Vladimir and Stefan."

Aro sat forward in his seat, reading between the lines. The Cullens were working with the Romanians. He was almost sure of it. A prickle of discomfort went down his spine.

He was almost sure he saw Bella smirk, but it was just a flash before she smiled at him. "But enough of that. Your latest venture, branching out to Japan, certainly had us intrigued. Tell me…"

Bella did indeed know her stuff, Aro found. She was well versed in his company, and it put him on the defensive. Just what were the Cullens gearing up for if they were talking to the Romanians and had hired this little spitfire?

He would find out.

And then he would crush them all.

* * *

**A/N: Heh. Fierce businessman!Aro.**

**Many thanks to Songster.**


	11. Prompt 16

**The Twilight Twenty-Five**

**thetwilight25 dot com**

**Prompt: 16 - Kingdom**

**Main Character: Aro, The Cullens**

**Rating: M**

**Word Count: 500**

**A/N: This is kind of a Twilight AU. Rofl.**

* * *

"You must understand the need for rules," Aro said calmly to the vampire on her knees. "The world-"

"What do yo know of the world?" the woman snarled, straining against Demetri and Felix's hold. "You sit here and rule your kingdom from your throne. How many centuries has it been since you've hunted for your own meal? You may be powerful, but you're pathetic."

Aro narrowed his eyes. "Finish it," he said to Felix. Then, "Wait."

He stood and walked to the woman who glared fiercely back at him. Gesturing to his guards to let her go, he stripped her of her trenchcoat and stepped back. "As you were," he said, and turned away, not bothering to watch as Felix and Demetri did their duty.

_**~0~**_

At first, Aro tried to tell himself his trip was long overdue. Everyone needed alone time every now and again, even a vampire. He hadn't been without his wife, Marcus, Caius or the guard in a millenia. The insufferable woman had absolutely not gotten under his rock hard skin.

He chose America on a whim. It seemed like just yesterday he had given Carlisle the money necessary to settle in the colonies. He'd heard the man and his rather extended family was currently residing in the Pacific Northwest. It was as good a place as any, he supposed. After all, it had been at least decades since he'd had to worry about paying attention to the weather.

He had not been alone a day before he ran into trouble.

Given the accessibility of the forests, he'd chosen to take to the trees after he left the airport. At first, he couldn't think why he hadn't done this sooner. How long had it been since he'd run like this? The trenchcoat he'd taken from the woman whipped out behind him as he ran and ran and…

Ran downwind of a rather heavily populated trail.

Humans, especially humans clambering about the rocks and trees, were a clumsy bunch. So many of them had stumbled, scraped their knees and arms. There was a troop of boy scouts out and about, rough-housing.

Well. Instinct and hunger took over. Aro smelled all the blood, and rational thought disappeared. He was everywhere, savoring each individual flavor, oblivious to the screams.

So much blood.

He became aware of a predatory presence and whirled, ready to fight, to defend his meal, but there was more than one blur launched at him, and he found himself restrained.

And inundated with thoughts.

_We should have stayed out of this. The Volturi will think we were involved._

_Damn. Mess much? It almost looks like fun._

And a third mind. A fierce, protective mind inundated by images of a human girl he wanted the likes of Aro far, far away from.

"Aro?"

Finally getting hold of his bloodlust, covered in carnage, Aro found himself looking up into the eyes of none other than Carlisle Cullen.

Looking at Carlisle and his gathered family, Aro could only giggle.

* * *

**A/N: … that kind of intrigues me. Huh. Anyway. Thanks to Songster and Barburella!**


	12. Prompt 5

**The Twilight Twenty-Five**

**thetwilight25 dot com**

**Prompt: 5 - Covert**

**Main Character:**

**Rating: M**

**Word Count: 500**

* * *

"Head in the game, Scarpinato." Emmett McCarty smacked Aro upside the head none too gently but without maliciousness. "We've got a covert mission to go over, and most of it riding on you, you damn nerd."

"Play nice, Agent." Edward Cullen stepped into the room, putting the finishing touch on his flawless black suit-cufflinks. "It's nerdy guys behind the scenes that end up running the agency." He ruffled Aro's hair. "Mark my words. He'll be our boss sooner than later."

Aro shut down his World of Warcraft game and brought up the screens he'd need to run this mission. "Cullen is right, McCarty. Don't be jealous that I can do my job _and _run a flawless raid."

"You're the eyes and ears of this thing." Emmett rolled his shoulders back. "And I get to crawl around dusty shafts. Again. Why doesn't Swan ever get this detail? She's just as capable as I am at the mechanical stuff, and she can fit in a ventilation shaft."

"She doesn't get that detail because she has a vagina. Having a vagina means Bad Guy #412 is prone to thinking she's weak and not a threat to his criminal empire." Bella Swan winked at McCarty as she entered. She was resplendent, as usual, her form-fitting dress draping her in elegance and her hair perfectly coifed. "I can move around more freely in the open. Until we achieve gender equality, we're just going to have to keep using your misogyny against you." She held a necklace with a large, round, sapphire laden pendent to Cullen. "Do me up?"

Aro rolled his eyes, looking back to his computer as Cullen went eagerly to her side. It was a good thing he knew from experience they were good at what they did. Working with them on a day to day basis, he'd have thought they'd be too busy flirting to get the job done.

"Well, then what's your excuse, Cullen? Why do you always get the cushy indoor jobs?" McCarty asked.

"Because I'm much more charming than you are, and-" He put one arm around Swan's waist and took her hand with the other. "I can dance much better." He demonstrated by swinging her around the room once as she chuckled.

"Right. My mistake. I forgot the best qualities of secret agents are charm and dancing skill." McCarty went back to checking that his backpack and Bella's handbag were well stocked with all the weapons and tools they would need.

Clearing his throat, Aro called them all to order. He checked and adjusted the cameras and microphones on Cullen's cufflinks and Swan's pendent. He triple checked their trackers so he could see on his computer their location at all times along with the locations of the secondary team.

His job was to know where all the players were at all times. He was the one who would tell them where to move and when, and he was damn good at what he did.

"Alright, team. Let's move."

* * *

**A/N: Many thanks to barburella and dizzygrl28.**

**Secret agents! Lol**


	13. Prompt 18

**The Twilight Twenty-Five**

**thetwilight25 dot com**

**Prompt: 18 - Mist**

**Main Character: Aro, E/B**

**Rating: M**

**Word Count: 500**

**A/N: This is all jessypt's fault. We were talking about Outlander and how much I want to write a Twilight/Outlander type fic (mmm Edward in a kilt. Yes?) and, well, anyway. Here's some Aro channeling Black Jack Randal.**

**Warning: For those of you who don't read Outlander, Black Jack is a rather sadistic, rapey bastard.**

* * *

Aro chuckled, watching Bella walk away from her sleeping husband through the mists of the Scottish highlands to the water. She was a hellion. A good match for Edward. They were both equally large pains in his ass.

He'd sworn to himself he would repay the favor. With as much trouble as these two had caused him, he was going to enjoy taking the price out of their flesh. Better to start with Bella. Edward, when enraged, was animalistic. Aro knew his own strengths and weaknesses. No, an enemy like Edward needed to be controlled by proxy.

Bella was humming to herself as she did her best to wipe the dirt from her face. It was only too easy. He clapped one hand over her mouth, and with the other pressed a dagger to her neck.

"Hello, dear girl," he said near her ear, adjusting his grip as she jolted. He pressed the tip of the knife into her skin and she stilled, though he could feel her heart beating fast and hard.

Congratulations on your recent nuptials." He wasted no time getting to business. He pushed her down, pinning her with his knee at her back and began to hike up her dress.

He felt her take a deep breath and knew she was about to scream. He forced her head down against the mud, pressing hard with the heel of his hand so her scream turned into a yelp of pain.

"Quiet. Cooperate and your husband will find you in one piece." He snickered and straddled her. "If a little worse for the ride."

"You shouldn't worry so much about my husband," she said through clenched teeth, swallowing whimpers at his rough hands spreading her legs apart. "I swear I'll be the one to kill you."

He pressed his knife flat against the curve of her bare ass and again she stilled. He continued speaking as though she hadn't threatened him. "So very charming, watching you with him. The look he gets. I do believe he's actually in love with you. Or is it that a man would love anything he has his cock that deeply inside?" He fumbled at his buttons. "Let's find out."

"Don't," she pleaded, bravado slipping.

"I do apologize for the lack of finesse." He patted her rump in a conciliatory fashion. "The time we would have together if I wasn't sure your husband would be up and about soon."

The sound of a gun cocking near his ear left stopped Aro cold. "Too late," Edward's voice came. Disrupting Aro's plans yet again, the bastard.

Aro had the knife against the girl's throat in the next heartbeat, pulling her up to her knees in front of him. The young buck was furious. Dangerous. It sent a rush of excitement through Aro's veins. "You won't kill me now," he said, drawing blood and a gasp with his blade.

Edward's lip twitched, and he kept the gun level. "No. I'm going to let her do it."

* * *

**A/N: Gosh, Edward. How rude you are. Interrupting him when he's trying to rape your wife. Didn't your momma learn you any better?**

**Anyway. Thanks to barburella and MANY THANKS to jessypt. I've been struggling with this challenge, and she put some great ideas in my head. **


	14. Prompt 11

**The Twilight Twenty-Five**

**thetwilight25 dot com**

**Prompt: 11- Forbidden**

**Main Character: Aro (I swear), EB (No really)**

**Rating: M...ish.**

**Word Count: 500**

**A/N: Idek where this came from. Definitely watching too much Supernatural. Anyway. Onward.**

* * *

The Bible was a book of myths, but all myths fostered some truth.

The Christian God was one many, but He did exist. So did Adam and Eve. They were not the first humans, but instead, they were the first of God's creations. His chosen. And He did create for them a paradise separate from the mortal world where they might have remained for eternity.

The keeper of the garden, the watcher, was an angel named Gadreel. Gadreel whose destiny it was to fail.

Yes, he let Lucifer into the garden, but what of it? Lucifer was his elder brother, and Gadreel trusted him.

"I can't understand why He's so enamored of them," Lucifer said as he watched with Gadreel. "I want to know what makes them so fascinating. I want to speak to them."

Gadreel didn't think to argue. Surely an archangel was welcome in the garden if these humans were.

Myth would turn Lucifer into a serpent and tell a story of forbidden fruit. In reality, what Adam and Eve succombed to was a different kind of worship. Rather than devote all their love and adoration to their maker, when Lucifer planted the suggestion, they began to turn toward each other. And thus, passion was born. The true forbidden fruit. Where other humans procreated, Adam and Eve made love. They shared a deeper connection together than either would with their absent lord.

Adam and Eve were ushered out of the paradise into the living world, mingling the idea of biological imperative with divine devotion. It was the deepest blasphemy to an angel. As Satan's unwitting accomplice, Gadreel was sentenced to humanity. And that might not have been such a punishment-humanity suffered, but oh the reward for that, the joy angels would never know-except that the ability to find the divine in a partner was taken from him.

So throughout his lives, without the ability to form a connection either to his Father nor another human, Gadreel was left with an emptiness. Again and again he was reborn into a human life in which he could watch others fall in love, find the divine, but never capture it himself. It left him always seeking.

His name in the last life he was ever to have was Aro. He had been turned by another god's creation. Angel to man to vampire. And in that life, he filled the hole in him with power.

So many eons after his fall, Aro ran into Adam and Eve again. Like all humans, they had been reborn, and like him, they had been turned. Adam and Eve to Edward and Bella.

Aro was fascinated. He watched through Edward's memories as Bella succombed to the forbidden, forsook the gift of humanity for love. And Edward followed. Again.

Again, the result was a love that hadn't existed before. A new kind of worship, a deeper divinity. These two beings had changed the world once. Watching them, Aro wondered if they were destined to do it again.

* * *

**A/N: Thanks to JessyPT and barburella.**

**Have a good weekend, my lovelies.**


	15. Prompt 4

**The Twilight Twenty-Five**

**thetwilight25 dot com**

**Prompt: 4**

**Main Character: Aro**

**Rating: M - just cuz**

**Word Count: 500**

**A/N: Unbeta'ed. FYI**

* * *

Aro didn't have time for relationships when there were so many things in the world he wanted to know. Mysteries he liked. People were too tedious to enjoy.

That was why he was surprised when Sulpicia intrigued him. After one conversation, she presented such an enigma, he knew right away he wanted to spend the rest of his life figuring her out. They married. Life was going to be so good.

One day, she went in for a routine surgery, but it was only the surgeon who came out.

"I'm so sorry, Mr. Scarpinato. There were complications…"

The surgeon couldn't adequately explain what had happened. Noting irritated Aro more than something he didn't understand. So he went back to school to be a doctor because he needed to understand why his wife's surgeon and her body failed her, why the puzzle was taken away from him unsolved.

He wanted to understand every possible complication.

In his residency, he pulled the night shift on Christmas Eve. Between family fights, horrible accidents, and the suicidally depressed figuring it was as good a time as any to attempt to check out, it was a hellish shift.

When it ended, he fell over onto the couch in the lounge, closing his eyes. He just needed a minute to regroup.

The door opened, startling Aro awake, and another resident, Carlisle, sat down beside him on the couch. "That was brutal," he said.

"Worse than Halloween," Aro said.

"No kidding. It's-" The other man broke off when he looked over at Aro. All the color drained from his face and he crumpled forward.

Aro leapt up and went to Carlisle. The other doctor held a shaking hand out. "No," he said, his voice thin. "I'm fine."

"Let me help you. If you've been exposed to-"

"I'm good. Just…" He took deep breaths, his head still down. "Distract me."

"How?"

"Tell me what you're going to specialize in."

"Oh." Aro sat down closer in case Carlisle needed help. "I want to specialize in everything."

"What? That's impossible."

"No, I want to become an expert in every field. Why not? I have the time and the inclination."

Carlisle took another deep breath and raised his head.

"So what was that?" Aro asked, always more curious than tactful.

"You'll laugh at me."

"I won't."

Carlisle sighed and looked over at him, sheepish. "It's the blood on your scrubs. I can't stand the sight of blood. It makes me…" He gestured to himself with a shrug.

Aro laughed. "But you're a doctor."

"I'm okay when I know it's coming, like when I'm on shift. It's only when I'm caught unaware." He smiled. "I wanted to help people, and if you want to know the truth, I didn't like the idea the capability had been taken away from me by this…affliction. So here I am."

Aro thought this over, a thousand questions occurring to him. This man made no sense. He was a puzzle. Aro swallowed hard. "So here you are."

* * *

**A/N: There. He wasn't a bastard in that one. And it only HINTS at Aro/Carlisle… heheh**

**Many thanks to barburella!**


	16. Chapter 16

**The Twilight Twenty-Five**

**thetwilight25 dot com**

**Prompt: 21**

**Main Character: Edward**

**Rating: M **

**Word Count: 500**

**A/N: This is unbeta'ed too! Not even barburella looked at it. I'm impatient. Mwah.**

* * *

When Carlisle didn't meet Edward for dinner, he knew something was wrong.

Wrong didn't even begin to cover it.

The sight of the photo on the desk and the certainty of where his father was churned Edward's stomach so violently he wretched, and that was when Bella caught up with him.

"Edward?"

"I need to go." He reached into a drawer where he knew his father kept a gun. It was still there. That wasn't good.

"What?" Bella grabbed his arm.

Rather than try to explain, he shoved the photo at her and ran on. He heard her gasp. She knew what the photo meant, and she knew as well as he did where his father had gone. There was an address on the back of the photo and the words 'come alone.'

It was a trap. Carlisle had to know it.

"You can't come with me," he said to Bella. Aro would use her as leverage, and he couldn't risk it. He took off in the only car ignoring her pleas.

When they were young, Carlisle, Esme, and Aro had been inseparable. But despite the fact Aro was desperately in love with Esme, she'd ended up with Carlisle. That should have broken their friendship, but Carlisle had been too kind and Aro had been…

Well, his pseudo-uncle had always creeped Edward out. It became apparent probably too late that Aro thought everything Carlisle had should have been his. With Edward's sister Alice, that idea had gotten sickeningly twisted, as though he'd shifted the desire he'd always carried for Esme onto her daughter when she was old enough.

And now there was a picture of Alice tied up and frightened and furious.

Of course Carlisle would go meet his deranged once-friend alone. He would do anything for his children, and he knew damn well what Aro wanted with her.

He wanted to possess her like he couldn't possess her mother.

Edward ran into the darkened house, following the sound of shouting. He ran around the corner, brandishing his father's gun. He had exactly enough time to take in the scene-Aro holding a gun to Alice's head, Carlisle with his hands up as he pleaded-before his whole world shattered.

"Dad!" he shouted-the worst mistake he would ever make.

Carlisle turned. Aro pointed the gun and squeezed the trigger. There was the loud crack of the gun firing, and Carlisle's body jolted. His father looked bewildered for a fraction of a second before he dropped to the floor in a heap, blood spilling from a wound that had struck him from behind and exited at the dead center of his forehead.

"No!" Edward screamed, running forward. He was ready to shoot, but Aro's gun was again pointing at his struggling sister.

There was a lot of screaming, but there was nothing he could do. Edward had to watch the man who'd killed his father get away with his sister.

Kneeling over Carlisle's still form, Edward vowed Aro was going to pay.

* * *

**A/N: SO. you can blame Mo for that… *cough***


	17. Prompt 10

**The Twilight Twenty-Five**

**thetwilight25 dot com**

**Prompt: 10 - Fabricate**

**Main Character: Aro - canon pairings, technically**

**Rating: M**

**Word Count: 500**

**A/N: Again, this is unbeta'ed. Although Barburella did read it. She said it was "nice."**

* * *

"_I do like a happy ending. They're so rare._"

A sharp pain brought Aro out of his elaborate fantasies and back into his nightmarish reality. He blinked, wincing as his eyes adjusted to the semi-darkness. He shifted and swallowed a groan as his bindings pulled at his raw skin. He shuddered as his eyes focused on face in front of him.

Guard Stefan. One of the more sadistic guards. Stefan and Vladimir were where his fantasies began. Ripping them apart piece by piece seemed like too swift a fate. He imagined they were immortal, that they couldn't die, that they would have to watch as he took everything from them they treasured.

Stefan snickered, gave Aro another prod just to hear him groan and then he moved on to the next prisoner. Aro clenched his fists, frustrated as always at how helpless he was.

All the other prisoners had made it into his inane fantasies. He and his brother-in-law Marcus and their friend Caius had been dragged in here together. They'd been alone for a time but not for long. No, now the dank dungeon was filled to the brim.

Stefan left again, and the newest prisoner, the one Aro's most recent fantasy had centered on, broke down. Poor creature. She'd been so brave when Guard James put her on the rack, but whatever Stefan had said to her had her undone.

It happened to all of them. Some days, it was just too much.

Edward dragged his heavy chains over to gather her into his arms. He rocked her, and Aro closed his eyes, slipping back into the dream he'd been spinning where they were two lovers finally reunited.

_**~0~**_

"Aro, wake up. You need to drink a bit."

Aro opened his eyes, cringing backward until he found he was face to face with guard Carlisle.

Carlisle was an anomaly both in life and in his dreams. As a guard, Carlisle was much kinder and humane than the others. Whenever they subjected one of the prisoners to some torture, Carlisle was the one to unshackle them, clean their wounds, and nurse them back to moderate good health. Maybe that was why Aro liked to imagine they were friends, or they had been. Perhaps that was why Aro's psyche had given him a loving family.

But still, even their fantasy life wasn't always amicable. His pseudo-self, like his real self, was jealous of what Carlisle had. Freedom in life, power and love in his dreams.

In life, Carlisle helped him drink, gave him a compassionate, sad smile, and moved on to Esme. Aro watched as he stroked her hair back tenderly, his eyes ever conflicted. Why did he bother, Aro wondered. They were all condemned to death. Eventually.

Perhaps Aro could convince him to slip a poison into the water he brought.

But he was too tired.

Aro closed his eyes again. He breathed through the pain until he slipped back into a fantasy where he was powerful and free.

* * *

**A/N: So there's that.**


	18. Prompt 3

**The Twilight Twenty-Five**

**thetwilight25 dot com**

**Prompt: 3: Banned**

**Main Character: Aro**

**Rating: M**

**Word Count: 500**

* * *

Aro had hoped that by coming to the hospital late, he would miss his ex-wife and her current husband, Carlisle. He should have known better. Esme would never leave their daughter's side-not now. The fact that she was drawn away from Alice's room spoke louder than words how big a threat she thought he was. They were followed by Carlisle's son Emmett, and their mutual child-a serious boy named Edward.

Esme had always wanted a boy named Edward.

"I'm not trying to make trouble," Aro said, raising his hands. "I just want to see her."

"You go near my sister, I'll fucking kill you," Emmett said, taking a menacing step forward.

"Mommy." The little one tugged on Esme's sleeve. "Does that man want to hurt Ali?"

"Emmett, take Edward back to Alice's room. Stay with them," Carlisle said, not taking his eyes off Aro.

"Dad-"

"Now."

Aro couldn't pretend he wasn't relieved to see the burly teenager retreat. He took a deep breath and looked to Esme, doing his best to let his honest contrition show on his face. "In thirteen years, I've never asked you for anything. I know I have no right, but please, please let me say goodbye to my daughter."

"You're the reason she's here!" Esme stepped up to him, her hands clenched at her sides, the look in her eyes so tortured, it shattered. "You're the reason for everything."

He was. He knew that.

Once upon a time, when he was young and stupid, he'd been a husband and father-a piss-poor husband and father at that. He'd been a spoiled young man used to getting his own way, and he hadn't been able to deal with it when his wife and his precious daughter were obstinate.

He made a horrible mistake. In a fit of rage, he'd beaten his then-five-year-old daughter half to death. He'd served time for it, but Alice. Alice had never fully recovered. There was irreparable damage done, and the domino effect had taken these thirteen years to kill her.

"I've regretted what I did every minute of every day," he said, not lying. "She's still my daughter. If this is my last chance to see her, to apologize directly to her-"

"You made a mistake, and you get to live with that for the rest of your life. But Alice gets to die from it, you selfish bastard." She shoved him hard and looked like she might have done more except her husband wrapped an arm around her waist. "All you care about is this is your last chance. You'd ruin her last days because you want one last look at her? She shouldn't ever have to see you again. You killed her. Oh God."

Her rage drained away as she slumped against Carlisle, crying. "My baby. Oh, god, my baby."

Her husband wrapped his arms around her, tucking her under his chin. Over her head, he leveled a threatening glare at Aro. "Get out," he said. "Now."

Defeated, Aro retreated.

* * *

**A/N: Many thanks to Barburella and myheroin**


	19. Prompt 7

**The Twilight Twenty-Five**

**thetwilight25 dot com**

**Prompt: 7 - Desecrate**

**Main Character: Seth**

**Rating: M**

**Word Count: 500**

* * *

"This is wrong."

"Don't start, Seth," Jerad said, looking over his shoulder at him before he scaled the fence surrounding the old cemetery.

Paul made a disgusted noise and followed Jerad. "Chicken."

"I'm not chicken," Seth said, watching Sam join them. "This is disrespectful."

"They were witches."

"Come or go," Sam said. "But don't bitch to Leah about us ignoring you."

Seth glared and scaled the fence, landing neatly on the other side. Sam's grin of approval made him happy, but the satisfaction faded when the older boy took a can of spraypaint out. He gulped around a tight knot in his throat and looked at the graves.

**Aro Scarpinato**

**Died 1701**

**Vengeance divine**

His grave presided over the other two, Jane and Alec. Twins-the first sign of their otherness. As legend had it, the town's citizens had suffered a series of strange mishaps as the twins grew, and when the were twelve, they were locked inside their house and burned alive. When their father found out, he had carried out a series of systematic murders before he was caught and similarly put to the death. With his last words, he cursed the town, and according to most, it stayed cursed.

Every few years some tragedy would strike-fire, flood, economic ruin. Personally, Seth thought it was kind of stupid to blame a family that had been slaughtered over three hundred years ago, but a lot of people believed it.

And now the other boys wanted to punish them the only way they could-by desecrating their graves.

As the snickering boys bent to their work, a wind kicked up, making the most god awful howling noise through the trees Seth had ever heard. The worst feeling of dread went through him.

"We have to go. We have to go right now," he said, more certain of this than he'd been of anything in his life.

"I told you not to bring him," Paul said in disgust.

Sam gave him a hard look. "You go."

Seth did.

_**~0~**_

After the boys came home, Seth went back.

Seth wasn't the kind of kid who was easily scared, but this cemetery creeped him the hell out. He told himself repeatedly that it was crazy to think someone was standing behind him, poised to attack. The air around him was ice cold, the wind threatening somehow.

"I'm sorry for what they did," Seth said as he tried to clean the mess his friends had made. "I'm sorry for what happened to your family."

The sky opened up quite suddenly then, and it began to pour. It was the kind of rain that Seth had only seen in horror movies. Lightning crashed down close enough he was almost blinded. Instinct sent him running.

Incredibly, the lightning followed him as though it was chasing him.

He outran it, but when he got home, he found out he was the lucky one.

It should have been an impossibility, but Paul, Sam, and Jerad had all been struck. Dead.

* * *

**A/N: Holy crap. How did it get to the end of November? I have five prompts left, and I have no idea. None. Eeep.**


	20. Prompt 8

**The Twilight Twenty-Five**

**thetwilight25 dot com**

**Prompt: 8 - Disheveled**

**Main Character: Unknown**

**Rating: M**

**Word Count: 500**

* * *

There exists a number of videos of Hitler that make people uncomfortable. He wasn't doing anything untoward. In one, he holds hands with a child, playing and laughing with her. In another, he smiles flirtatiously at the camera, teasing Eva Braun gently. Cute videos, but because it's Hitler, it doesn't sit well with many.

The reason is simple. We like to think that Hitler is a monster-not human. You'd have to be something other to commit the atrocities he did.

The truth of the matter is we're all made of the same stuff. Every one of us carries the capability of every evil. The corollary is that the people who commit those evils are also capable of every kindness.

And love.

Which is why I find myself waxing philosophical about supposed monsters. I'm in love with one.

Aro Scarpinato.

I'm not ignorant of the monstrous things he's done. I know that side of him as well as the rest of the world does. I know his human side as well.

He is a kind and generous lover. It can be eerie, because a lot of the traits that make him a horrible despot also make him both curious and eager to please. They were good qualities in the bedroom.

It's more than just his prowess. Him being who he is, it has to be more. But that's hard for me to explain.

It's easier to explain things like the way he often wakes me. He knows my body so well, he's made a game of bringing me as close to orgasm as possible before I wake. He's done it too, once or twice-played my body so that I woke just as I came.

I see him this way-skin flushed from our exertions, hair disheveled from my fingers or the pillows. To the rest of the world he's impeccably dressed and put together. Powerful. With me, he's vulnerable, and he tells me his secret fears in whispers.

For all his ugliness, he is also beautiful, and I can't walk away. Our time together is doomed to be short-lived. As I said, I know who he is. The rest of the world does too. Someone is going to put him down sooner than later.

He bends over backward to keep me hidden-a good thing, in this case for more than one reason. First of all, he's adamant that if he goes down, he isn't going to take me with him. We always said if even though we both know it's when. I think, though, he merely believes it's inevitable that someone will take over the same way he did-through blood and death. I know it's going to be someone acting for the betterment of the world.

Not that his reasoning isn't sound. That's the second reason he keeps me so hidden: so I can't be used to manipulate him.

I will always wonder if I'm the only one who knows him in full-the human monster, flawed and beautiful as we all are.

* * *

**A/N: Okay. Now I have exposed, Forgotten, Limit, Pristine, and Serendipity left...so if anyone has a spark of an idea, let me know! They're stumping me!**


	21. Prompt 9

**The Twilight Twenty-Five**

**thetwilight25 dot com**

**Prompt: 9 - Exposed**

**Main Character: E/B**

**Rating: M**

**Word Count: 500**

* * *

"You're being ridiculous."

Edward narrowed his eyes. "What are you talking about?"

"You're about to make a man's life miserable for no good reason."

"No good reason? Bella, a sex offender lives three doors away from our children. This is okay with you?"

She crossed her arms. "I know you didn't just imply I don't want to protect our children."

"Well, explain this to me. It's not as though I'm suggesting vigilante justice. The other neighbors should know there's a threat."

"_You_ don't know there's a threat," Bella said, exasperated. "Use a little rationality. There are people on that list whose horrible sex crimes were things like urinating in public, in the middle of the night, when there was no one around but the asshole cop that found them. As though you haven't pulled over to take a leak on a road trip."

"And if he's a child molester?" He looked like one. Something about Aro Scarpinato had always given him the creeps.

Bella sighed. "You know how I feel about this. If he's living here and his whereabouts are known, that means he's done his time. He's reformed."

"He can reform somewhere far away from my children."

"That's what everyone says."

Edward brought up the website and typed Aro's name into the search. He clicked on the charges tab and shook his finger in horror and triumph. "Unlawful sexual intercourse and child molestation."

Bella just shook her head. "I love you, and you're a good man. I know you're doing this to protect our children, but I'm sorry you feel you have to."

_**~0~**_

Technically, Edward didn't do anything to Aro. He never spoke to the man. He only put a letter in each of his neighbor's mailboxes notifying them of the simple fact. Their neighbor was a sex offender.

It was only the truth.

He wasn't the one who harassed the man, threw garbage on his lawn and scrawled threats on his house. He didn't do do a thing.

He couldn't say he wasn't relieved when a 'for sale' sign came up in front of Aro's house.

But the morning after the moving truck pulled away, the mailman delivered a letter to each house on the street. In each envelope, with the letter, was a picture of Aro with his wife and two small children.

_Former Neighbor,_

_It's true that I did time in prison for rape and molestation. My victim was my then sixteen-year-old girlfriend. I was twenty._

_Enclosed is a picture of myself with my victim and wife of ten years along with our two children. I think you can can agree that your children never suffered at my hand. My children, however, have been harassed, teased, assaulted by their peers on more than one occasion, and uprooted seven times in their short lives._

_I hope you can rest easy now._

Guilt churned in Edward's gut. Bella took the letter from his hand, read it, kissed his cheek, and went to go hug their children.

* * *

**A/N: Many thanks to Songster for taking a look at this.**

**Four more! I can do this. Right? ACCCCKKK.**


	22. Prompt 12

**The Twilight Twenty-Five**

**thetwilight25 dot com**

**Prompt: 12 - Forgotten**

**Main Character: Aro, Alice**

**Rating: M**

**Word Count: 500**

* * *

Very occasionally, Aro traveled alone, seeking out a particular talent he hoped to cultivate. He thought he'd finally found what he'd sought in a Mississippi insane asylum.

Mary Alice Brandon. Such a sweet child. They dismissed her visions as insanity. Humans were shortsighted. Her family had buried an empty casket and forgotten her.

Still, Aro had to be sure about this. So far, his belief that true prognostication existed had proven incorrect. He'd turned others that had been useless to him.

When he ran a tender hand through her hair, Mary Alice turned away from the corner and blinked. "It'll work, you know," she said, her voice eerily far away.

"What will?" he asked, still petting her. She liked touch. Poor creature. No one had touched her with any degree of tenderness in a long while.

She blinked again, her eyebrows knitting together in the middle. "I don't know. I just know you'll be very happy."

With that, she smiled beatifically and tilted her head into his hand.

_**~0~**_

Aro made the decision when he caught the scent of another vampire. Elusive, the other was. And too near Alice for him to believe she wasn't the target. Of course she was. Alice was special.

That very night, Aro wrapped the tiny girl up in her blankets and ran with her to the woods, far enough away from the asylum that no one could possibly hear her screams.

"I'm sorry, sweetling," he said, smoothing her spiky hair back as he lay her down on the soft bracken. "This is going to hurt."

She whimpered. "Not the wires. Please."

"No. When this is over, I promise nothing will be able to hurt you ever again. Now, close your eyes."

She did, and he took her hand. He pressed a kiss there before he dug his teeth into the soft flesh of her wrist. Then the other. Then her neck. She gasped, but she didn't scream. In fact, she seemed to fall into a deep sleep.

Holding her hand, Aro knew he'd been right about her. Futures played out before him in rapid succession. He saw her with him in Italy. He was both amused and dismayed when her visions showed Jane attacking her. Alice won, Jane won-the vision changed and was gone completely when Aro resolved to tell Jane if she killed Alice, she would answer to him.

"Fascinating," he murmured.

Another vision came. A blond vampire, lunging at Aro, tearing him to pieces. Right here in this very woods. Alarmed, Aro took off, hunting lest he be hunted.

But not before he caught the tail end of Alice's latest vision-a blond-haired vampire with love in his eyes. A formidable group of other vampires. A boy with an arrogant smirk, a statuesque blond woman, a grinning man with a bulk that might have rivaled Felix, a woman with a heart-shaped face and a kind, motherly smile. And…

Carlisle Cullen?

But Aro couldn't think about that. Not until he could catch his would-be-murderer.

* * *

**A/N: Many thanks to 2muchtrouble for sparking this plot bunneh. And thanks to songster for looking it over. And Barburella for putting all my ish on AO3**

**Limit, Pristine, Serendipity. MDTwiwriter gave me some inspiration. Let's see what comes up. Okay. Let's do this!**


	23. Prompt 20

**The Twilight Twenty-Five**

**thetwilight25 dot com**

**Prompt: 20 - Serendipity**

**Main Character: Edward/Bella**

**Rating: M**

**Word Count: 500**

* * *

"I do love a happy ending. They are so rare."

The maniac, Aro, looked giddy with anticipation.

He was insane. He was also holding a gun. Edward edged closer to the room's other captive, a brunette who looked as furious and frightened as he felt.

"I'll leave you two to chat. You'll see. You were meant for each other." He sighed again, like a schoolgirl with a crush. Edward's stomach churned, but he didn't speak. He'd found out the hard way this guy only heard what he wanted to hear, and if you challenged that, he got really pissed off.

The sound of the outside deadbolt clicking into place was loud in the cold room.

"Are you okay?" both Edward and the woman said.

"Am I okay?" she asked. "It wasn't me he was beating the crap out of."

Edward winced as he tried to sit up, and she hurried over to help him. "It's fine," he said through gritted teeth. Injuries didn't matter. He'd ignore them until he was out of there. "We need to figure some things out."

The woman put her hands gently on his face, tilting his head to examine his wounds. She took a shaky breath. "From what I can tell? The bastard believes in serendipity, and he thinks we ignored destiny."

"What destiny? He acted like we knew each other."

"We weren't introduced." She stopped checking him over, and backed away, wrapping her arms around her shoulders.. "You were walking in downtown Seattle last week," she said, not looking at him.

His eyes went wide. Last week, he'd come close to being hit by a car, saved only when someone tackled him. The car swerved, and there had been an accident. In the chaos, Edward never saw who'd saved his life. "That was you?"

She nodded. "So as near as I can tell, this asshole was there. He thinks that should have been the start of our happily ever after, but I took off. He thinks he's putting the story right." She shuddered.

Edward pulled the comforter off the room's single bed and wrapped it around her. "I've been wishing for days that I knew who you were."

"Bella," she said in a small voice. "And you're Edward. I saw you on the news."

"Some thanks this is," he said, looking around the barren room for the umpteenth time. "So, we're supposed to fall in love or else? Is that the idea?"

She seemed to shrink. "So it seems."

Then it was Edward who shuddered. The man had lost touch with reality, obviously. Their survival depended on them not breaking the fragile reality he'd built for them.

Edward didn't want to think about what that could mean if they didn't get away soon.

Bella lifted the comforter away from her, giving him a questioning look of invitation. Edward moved to sit beside her and let her wrap the comforter around them both. "We're going to get out of here," she said.

"Count on it."

* * *

**A/N: No idea where that came from, but it's very dark and twisted in my head. Ack. **

**Many thanks to Barburella. **

**Pristine and Limit now. Go, go, go, go!**


	24. Prompt 19

**The Twilight Twenty-Five**

**thetwilight25 dot com**

**Prompt: 19 - Pristine**

**Main Character: Edward**

**Rating: M (not really, but meh)**

**Word Count: 500**

* * *

"Cullen?"

"Yes, Chef?"

"Does this look like enough capers to you?"

"Yes, Chef."

Edward Masen tensed, pausing his relentless chopping. Sous Chef Carlisle Cullen and Head Chef Aro Scarpinato were famous for being at each others throats. Carlisle knew damn well what those two words would start.

Edward and the other line chefs kept their heads bent to their work. As Aro got louder, Carlisle's voice remained steady. He moved around the kitchen seamlessly, throwing out the occasional order to the line chefs and answering Aro's tirade with the occasional, maddeningly calm, "Yes, Chef."

Life as usual in the fine Italian restaurant, Volterra.

_**~0~**_

Aro and Carlisle were still at it when Edward took a break, stepping into the cool evening air in the alley behind the restaurant.

A minute later, the restaurant's newest waitress, Bella he thought her name was, stepped out. "Getting out before there's bloodshed?" she asked.

Edward smiled. "And be Chef's next target?"

She scoffed, sitting on the step. "I wouldn't worry about that, Ace. You're not Chef's type."

"What?"

Bella raised an eyebrow. "You know those two are completely gone for each other, right? I've seen the way Chef looks at Carlisle."

Edward sat beside her. "He looks like he's considering shoving Carlisle in the oven?"

"What he's considering is bending Carlisle over the counter."

At that, Edward had to laugh. "Chef would never do anything to sully his pristine kitchen that way." He cocked his head. "Hmm."

"What?"

"There might be something to your theory." He glanced at Bella, debating, but he didn't think Aro's condition was a secret. "Did you know Chef has severe OCD?"

"Does he? Wouldn't that make it hard to work in a kitchen?"

"It does sometimes. That's what causes a lot of his outbursts. He was upset at Carlisle because there wasn't an even number of capers in the dish he made."

"And Carlisle antagonizes him about it? That doesn't sound like good juju."

"No, it's not like that. Carlisle knows when to push him. When he gets stuck in those modes that he's counting things like capers, arguing distracts him. Carlisle is very patient with his condition." Edward rubbed his chin, considering. "He's the one who stays with him for hours after we close, when Chef is stacking and restacking the pots and pans."

"That's...very sweet," Bella said. "And sad."

"It can be sad, yeah," Edward said. It was heartbreaking to see a powerful man made helpless in the face of a disorder. "It's also what makes him good at what he does. If you ever have a chance to see him filet a fish, cut a chicken into parts, or do complex plating, watch him work." Edward whistled. "Watching that man with a knife is a thing of beauty."

"Oh, does Carlisle have competition for Aro's affection?"

"Hardly." Edward let his smile creep up the side of his mouth. "I prefer beautiful, _female _brunettes."

He heard her breath catch, and she laughed. "Smooth, Masen. Very smooth."

* * *

**A/N:FYI, Cappy, this is not the one I was talking about...that's the next one. GAH.**

**Most everyone said OCD with this one. Hmm. Thanks to barburella for the chef idea. **


	25. Prompt 17

**The Twilight Twenty-Five**

**thetwilight25 dot com**

**Prompt: 17 - Limit**

**Main Character: Aro/Carlisle**

**Rating: M (so M. Oh, holy crap, M)**

**Word Count: 500**

**A/N: Uh… this is Aro/Carlisle BDSM and this is ALL MYONLY HEROIN'S FAULT OMFG.**

* * *

"You're not going to come, are you, pet?"

Carlisle couldn't think. Master's voice was its usual level tempo, as if he wasn't driving Carlisle insane. They were kneeling, Carlisle's legs spread, his back up against Aro's chest, blindfolded while Aro played with him.

Aro gave Carlisle's cock a tug, making him cry out. "I asked you a question."

"S-sorry, Master. I won't come." He didn't know how he was going to accomplish that, but he wanted to please.

Aro gripped a fistful of Carlisle's hair. "You know I don't tolerate rudeness," he cooed in his ear, drawing the finger of his free hand along the space between the base of his cock and balls.

As quickly as Aro began to stimulate him, his finger was gone. He put his hand to the center of Carlisle's back and gave him a light push. "On your hands and knees."

Carlisle obeyed, his heart pounding. Sometimes the sensory deprivation drove him mad. He knew Aro had brought many of their toys out, and they were all within easy reach. He also knew he was about to be punished. Aro was a creative man. It was a minor offense, but Aro had been known to use the paddle or strap just because it suited him.

He was also a sadistic asshole. He had to know Carlisle was going out of his skin in anticipation. He heard Aro's methodical steps around him. The sound of Aro picking up an implement, putting it down. Carlisle pressed his tongue against the roof of his mouth.

Finally, he jolted as he felt the brush of leather down his back. The riding crop. A thrill of anticipatory fear and desire went down his spine.

Aro traced the lines of his ass in a sensual manner. Despite himself, Carlisle moaned, painfully hard at that point.

Without warning, Aro brought the crop down on Carlisle's inner thigh hard enough to make his eyes sting. "Now, pet," he began, his voice steady as he worked the crop up the inside of Carlisle's leg and down the other. "You get seven orgasms a week. That was the limit we set together, and you used them already."

Carlisle groaned at the strikes of the crop. "Yes, master."

"Am I being unfair, not letting you come?"

"N-no, Master."

"No." He brought the crop up between Carlisle's legs, hitting his balls with lighter slaps. Carlisle writhed. "So I don't deserve your rudeness, do I?"

"No, sir." He muffled a cry as Aro brought the crop down sharply on his ass. "I'll do better."

"I suspect you will." Aro brought the crop down with force until Carlisle was whimpering.

He heard Aro step around to his front. "On your knees, pet."

Carlisle obeyed. Aro began to stroke his hair lovingly. "Now," he said, using his other hand to caress Carlisle's chin and cheeks. "You may earn my forgiveness." He groaned as Carlisle hungrily took his cock in his mouth. "After all, I have no limit on orgasms."

* * *

**A/N: All MyOnlyHeroin's fault… and you know, Cappy and Packy didn't help at all. They made things so much worse. Oh, god. I'm going to die. I need to go chop my fingers off. Gaaaahhh.**

**Also. I'm done with the challenge… WOW. Uh... does this count as ending with a bang?**


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